The International Monetary Fund has noted that there is still poverty in the country despite pronouncements of economic growth.

In a statement by the Bretton Woods Institution availed through the ministry of finance in Zambia, the global lender stated that it had noted that country was unlikely to attain the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 because extreme poverty still characterized the country despite the strong growth and overall success of the 2004 to 2011 fund supported programs.

Mr Moeketsi Majoro executive director of IMF for Zambia said that the statement based on the sixth and last review of the IMF’s 3 year Extended Credit Facility arrangement with Zambia stated that urban poverty declined markedly while rural poverty declined with a modest pace.

This may reflect the concentration of growth in highly capital intensive or urban based sectors like mining, construction and services while per capita agricultural growth, a key factor for the rural population lagged behind. This report is IMF’s sixth and last review of the ECF which focuses on economic and program performance, fiscal, monetary, financial and structural policies.

On agriculture, the IMF stated that growth had picked up between 2008 and 2010 but the policies that kept maize prices artificially high disadvantaged the urban poor and that one third of the smallholders that were net buyers of maize.

Economic growth had not benefited the areas and sectors where the poor were most numerous adding that despite the weathering quite well, the recent global financial crisis, Zambia could do more to reduce the vulnerabilities in future shocks. However the lender’s country office noted that the country’s economic program remained robust and broad based with all the end of December 2010 performance criteria being achieved.

The Economic growth performance has been robust and broad based with a preliminary outturn for 2010 being higher than earlier projected at 7.6%. The attainment was chiefly attributed to continued strong performance of the agricultural, mining and transport sectors as well as supportive macroeconomic policies.

Mr Majoro however, attributed the country’s failure to meet the domestic financing set benchmark to unexpected budget pressure to buy the surplus maize from the bumper harvest in addition to unexpected continuous voter registration.

According to the IMF, Zambia, Africa’s largest copper producer and worlds fourth largest had asked for a waiver for the breach of this particular performance criterion because of its unpredictable and temporary nature. The program performance was broadly satisfactory with all end December 2010 performance criteria being met with the exception of the net domestic financing ceiling.

The development was mainly attributed to expansionary budget pressure to purchase the surplus maize harvest and unexpected continuous voter registration exercise.

The IMF is happy at government’s appreciation for the lender’s policy support, technical and financial aid to Zambia which ostensibly helped the country consolidate macroeconomic stability and quickly recover from the adverse impact of the global financial and economic crises.

Recently the World Bank, another lender reclassified Zambia as a lower middle income country along with Ghana following its impressive economic performance since the year 2000 ahead of the projected 2030 as envisioned under the fifth national development program.

(Filed by Mr Kapembwa Sinkamba SteelGuru Correspondent Zambia)